SECAUCUS, N.J. -- This time, the Houston Astros couldnt resist drafting Mark Appel with the No. 1 pick. Houston selected the hard-throwing Stanford pitcher with the top choice in the Major League Baseball draft Thursday night, a year after passing on the hometown kid and instead choosing 17-year-old shortstop Carlos Correa from Puerto Rico. "I talked to him and told him: Welcome home," Astros general manager Jeff Luhnow said. "Its a kids dream to go first in the country, first in the draft and to be taken by your hometown team. It just doesnt get any better than that. Its also really a great opportunity for us." Appel, who grew up in Houston before moving to California when he was 12, slid to Pittsburgh at No. 8 last year but turned down a $3.8 million offer and returned to Stanford for his senior season. The move paid off. After going 10-4 with a 2.12 ERA and 130 strikeouts in 106 1-3 innings this season for the Cardinal, the 6-foot-4, 195-pound Appel is expected to fetch about double the amount he passed up from the Pirates. "I dont think I necessarily had an end goal in mind when I turned down the Pirates offer," said Appel, who complements his mid-90s (mph) fastball with a nasty slider and improving changeup. "My goals were to finish my degree and become a better baseball player and better person and better teammate. As far as that goes, I think I accomplished those things. "No matter what happened in the draft, I knew I had done everything that was in my control to put myself in the best situation possible." The deadline for teams to sign draft picks is July 12, but that doesnt apply to Appel because he is a college senior. "Im very confident that Mark Appel is going to put on an Astros uniform," Luhnow said. "Hes from here. He wants to play here. Hes been selected first in the draft. All the indicators are pointing in the same direction, so I assume it will be a fairly straightforward discussion and that hell sign sometime this summer." The draft, which is held over three days and 40 rounds, started Thursday night with the first two rounds at MLB Network Studios. Nine prospects attended and sat in a makeshift dugout as they waited for their names to be called by Commissioner Bud Selig in an event that has grown dramatically over the last few years. "It really is terrific," Selig said. "This is what we had in mind. I love this night. ... This is the way you build a baseball team. It was true when Branch Rickey said it many, many years ago ... and its just as true today." It was the second straight season that the first pick was uncertain going into the draft, with Oklahoma right-hander Jonathan Gray and a pair of college third basemen -- North Carolinas Colin Moran and San Diegos Kris Bryant -- thought to be in the mix for Houston. It was the fourth time the Astros had the No. 1 pick, and they joined Tampa Bay (2007-08) and Washington (2009-10) as teams to have the top selection in consecutive years. The draft order is determined by reverse finish -- worst to best -- in the overall standings from last season. With the No. 2 pick, the Chicago Cubs selected Bryant, who led Division I college players with 31 home runs this season. The 6-foot-5, 210-pound junior is a Golden Spikes finalist and Collegiate Baseball magazines national player of year. Grey went third overall to the Colorado Rockies. The 6-foot-4, 245-pound flamethrower helped pitched the Sooners into the super regionals of the NCAA tournament, going 10-2 with a 1.59 ERA and 138 strikeouts in 119 innings. Colorado apparently was not scared off by published reports that cited unidentified sources who said Gray tested positive for the medication Adderall during baseballs predraft drug testing program. "Im not going to talk about that right now," Gray said. "There will be a time for that. Right now, Im just happy to be selected by the Rockies." The first high school player picked was pitcher Kohl Stewart, who went to the Minnesota Twins at No. 4. A right-hander from Tomball, Texas, Stewart has signed to play baseball and football at Texas A&M -- where he would likely be a backup to Heisman Trophy winner Johnny Manziel at quarterback. The Cleveland Indians followed by grabbing Clint Frazier, a high school outfielder from Georgia who was in the studio to hear his name called by Selig. "Ive had a lot of people tell me Im going to be a fan favourite because of my red hair," Frazier said. "People put me on a pedestal, like no one else has red hair." Of the draft prospects in attendance, Frazier was the first to be selected. The second came when the New York Mets chose sweet-swinging California high school first baseman Dominic Smith at No. 11. Five picks later, Philadelphia took Smiths close buddy, California high school shortstop J.P. Crawford -- cousin of Dodgers outfielder Carl Crawford -- who was also at MLB Network Studios. The two hugged, with Smith in a Mets jersey and Crawford wearing a rival Phillies jersey in a neat scene that also might have made some New York and Philadelphia fans squirm. Crawford acknowledged that he could be the future replacement for All-Star shortstop Jimmy Rollins. "Hopefully I can learn something from him," Crawford said, "and someday take his place." North Carolina third baseman Colin Moran, the nephew of former big league All-Star B.J. Surhoff -- the No. 1 overall pick in 1985 by Milwaukee -- went sixth overall to the Miami Marlins. Moran was the ACC player of the year and led the offence for the NCAA tournaments No. 1 overall seed. "Its exciting to take the next step in my career," Moran said, "but obviously there is business to take care of this weekend." Boston, picking as high as seventh for the first time since drafting Trot Nixon in the same spot in 1993, took Indiana high school lefty Trey Ball. Stephen F. Austin slugging shortstop Hunter Dozier was the No. 8 overall pick by the Kansas City Royals, who surprised some by taking a player expected to go much later in the opening or second round. "We followed him all throughout the year," Royals scouting director Lonnie Goldberg said. "As we got in the room and put things together, he became our favourite player." Pittsburgh, with the No. 9 pick it got as compensation for not signing Appel last year, selected Georgia high school outfielder Austin Meadows. He grew up playing travel ball with Frazier, but the two went to different high schools a few miles apart in the same town of Loganville. "Hes one of my best friends and weve been through this process together since we were like 9 years old," Frazier said. "Im going to call him, and wherever he goes, Im going to support him." Rounding out the top 10 picks, Toronto chose hard-throwing California high school right-hander Phil Bickford. Edmonton left-hander Rob Zastryzny was the first Canadian selected, taken in the second round, 41st overall, by the Chicago Cubs. A few familiar names went in the opening round: University of Nevada right-hander Braden Shipley, cousin of Jacksonville Jaguars wide receiver Jordan Shipley, went 15th to Arizona; and North Carolina high school righty Hunter Harvey, son of former big league closer Bryan Harvey, was selected 22nd by Baltimore. The New York Yankees had the most first-round picks with three and selected Notre Dame third baseman Eric Jagielo at No. 26, 6-foot-7 Fresno State outfielder Aaron Judge at No. 32 and California high school left-hander Ian Clarkin to wrap up the round at No. 33. Air Max 720 Cheap . Perhaps Carroll was so prepared for a break because he believes there is very little the Seattle Seahawks need heading into the off-season. 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The 17-year-old native of Marystown, N.L., pulled out of Skate Canada International last month in Saint John, N.B., with the same problem. Cheap Air Max 720 China . Louis Rams wide receiver Stedman Bailey last Sunday. The fine is the fourth this season for Goldson. He was fined $30,000 for a hit on the New York Jets Jeff Cumberland in Week 1. The competitive balance for a major esport, regardless of the title, is a delicate and ever-changing beast. In a scenario where millions of people can play a game for a myriad of different reasons, finding the right recipe of what works and satisfying the masses is a daunting task.From the properties of in-game weapons and items to the spectator experience, game developers for esports titles have the power to change what they want, when they want. Players dont like the absence of a Baron buff at the beginning of the game? Add the Rift Herald. Think a pistol is too powerful? Nerf it. A power weapon too exposed to make it worth picking up? Move it elsewhere.This property of esports contrasts sharply with traditional sports, which very rarely tolerate changes to the rules and tools of the game. If its too difficult to land three-pointers in basketball, you cant just make the rim diameter larger. If batting averages are too low, you cant just move first base closer to home.The way a developer can manipulate its game can have powerful and dangerous effects. Sometimes a change is met with an overwhelmingly positive response, other times a change is reverted within a matter of days due to causing a lot of pain in the [games] community. In order to ensure that the right call is made the first time around, Halo developer 343 Industries has taken a direct approach to solving the issue of competitive balance. The creators of esports titles Halo 4, Halo: The Master Chief Collection, and Halo 5: Guardians have invested in the longevity of Halo esports in the past; initiatives like hiring an advisory Pro Team-- a group of former professional Halo players -- have helped them design the landscape of how Halo is played competitively.More recently, 343 established the HCS Council in order to determine the rules that will be used for the inaugural Halo Championship Series: Pro League that started this week. Andy Bravo Dudynsky (Community Manager, Halo Championship Series Lead) and Quinn DelHoyo (Multiplayer Designer) are two of many people that have been intimately involved in the development of Halo esports from the very beginning. They played a large role in the establishment and operations of the HCS Council.The goal for the HCS Council is to ensure that were growing Halo esports in the best way possible, across all aspects of the league. In order to do it right, its important to work alongside our top players, leverage their knowledge and expertise, and partner with them on continuing to grow Halos competitive scene. We want to create a league were proud of, a league that players love playing in and a league that fans love watching, said Bravo.343 sought direct input from the players themselves when deliberating over the competitive ruleset. It conducted weekly calls with current professional players to ensure that no stone was left unturned in its quest to offer the best competitive Halo experience possible to both pro players and the community.When it comes to Halo multiplayer, Halo has a ton of fans and lots of different communities that have an opinion on the game. With that in mind, we think its always important to get feedback from as large a variety of players as possible. The HCS Council is important because it provides an opportunity for pro players and us to have a direct link to facilitate conversation on the state of the game. These guys compete in Halo at the highest level so their feedback is very valuable as it gives us an improved perspective at that level of play, said DelHoyo.The calls have been beneficial to both the players and the developers, according to DelHoyo. The calls have been good. Any time you get a bunch of passionate people together in a room youll get active debate on cchanges and exciting discussions around future ideas.ddddddddddddhe process has not been simple though, as is expected when many voices speak their opinions on something they are passionate about. Its difficult to get everyone to agree on everything, but thats also not the expectation. There are times when players debate power weapon locations, map/game type combinations, and everything in between. There may be five different opinions expressed, sometimes more. This type of feedback is exactly what were looking for, though: what is working well, what do some teams love, what do some teams dislike, and, most importantly, why? These calls give us an opportunity to have meaningful conversations about all sorts of things, and the design teams here at the studio can take this feedback to answer the question of how can we build the best Halo multiplayer experience? added Bravo.The partnership goes beyond the players and the developers in this case. 343 has also been partnering with ESL, producers of the HCS Pro League, to ensure open lines of communication across the board.We debate, we laugh, we argue, and in the end we collect all feedback and determine next steps with our dev team here and our partners at ESL. If something isnt working, we go back to the drawing board and revisit. If something should be changed but needs development time, we can communicate with players directly that were evaluating changes for a future season, and let them know what stage were at with the actual development work. Ultimately, its about providing an open and regular line of communication and collecting feedback on all things from the best players in the world, explained Bravo.The players themselves reflected this positive perspective. The weekly calls with 343 were brilliant. It felt good having an influence on what the settings would be for pro league which we would be playing on. During the calls they would ask us if anything played right or wrong, and if we wanted anything to be changed, shared Sal eL TowN Mohanan, pro player for Team EnVyUs. Carlos Cratos Ayala of Enigma6 also added, They made changes to the maps and asked us for our feedback. They were always quick to apply what we discussed.343s diligent attention to detail impressed its pro players. I thought the calls were pretty helpful! said Enigma6 player Jesse bubu dubu Moeller. We were given maps and gametypes every week and gave feedback after playing them for a bit. Then we gave 343 input from what we thought until it was finalized.The esports industry is growing at an unprecedented rate, and it shows no signs of slowing down. With developments like ELeague (a Counter-Strike: Global Offensive league produced by TBS) firmly in mind, game developers have to consider their impact on the esports landscape in both the short term and long term. While 343 has a focus on the future of Halo esports, it also knows how to enjoy the successes it has now.We have come away with some key findings that well look to improve going forward, said Delhoyo. Bravo also added, I think theres a lot of potential in this initiative and I hope players and fans do too. Well absolutely utilize the HCS Council moving forward, and weve learned a great deal about how to collect feedback, the best ways to get proposed changes in front of players, and more. Im looking forward to seeing how the Summer Season plays out and where Halo esports will go from here.Fans loyal to Halo have been through highs and lows when it comes to the esports side of things, and it seems that 343 is invested in ensuring that the experience is smooth sailing from now on. China NFL Jerseys Cheap Nike NFL Jerseys NFL Jerseys Cheap Wholesale NFL Jerseys Cheap Basketball Jerseys Online Stitched Hockey Jerseys Wholesale Baseball Jerseys Football Jerseys Outlet College Jerseys For Sale Cheap MLB Jerseys Wholesale Soccer Jerseys Wholesale Jerseys For Sale Wholesale NFL Jerseys ' ' '